Operation Ten-Go was the last major Japanese naval operation in the
Pacific campaign of World War II. The Japanese battleship Yamato,
the
largest battleship in the world, along with nine other Japanese
warships, sortied from Japan on an intentional one-way mission to
attack the Allied forces that were invading Okinawa. The Japanese
force was attacked, stopped, and almost completely destroyed before
reaching Okinawa by U.S. carrier aircraft which sank Yamato and five
other Japanese warships. The battle emphasized the aerial control
that
the U.S. had attained in the Pacific theater as well as the
vulnerability of surface ships to aerial attack. The battle also
apparently exhibited Japan's willingness to sacrifice large numbers
of
its people in desperate and suicidal tactics in an attempt to slow or
stop the Allied advance on the Japanese homeland.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ten-Go
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Today's selected anniversaries:
786:
Harun al-Rashid became the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his
brother al-Hadi.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_al-Rashid)
1752:
The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven
days (September 2 was followed directly by September 14).
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar)
1812:
Napoleon's invasion of Russia: Napoleon and his Grande Armée captured
Moscow, only to find the city deserted and burning.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow)
1959:
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 crashed onto and became the first
man-made object to reach the Moon.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2)
1960:
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was
founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"The acceptance of the principle of international cooperation is of
immense importance for all states. Even the states which are most
tempted to believe that they can stand by themselves have very much
to
gain by such cooperation. And for the smaller states — the weaker
states — it is vital to all their hopes of liberty and justice." --
Lord Robert Cecil
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Cecil%
2C_1st_Viscount_Cecil_of_Chelwood)